30 years ago, on 25 May 01977, in just 32 theaters, Star Wars premiered [CNN]

20th Century Fox and The Franklin Mint altered 40,000 quarters to promote the upcoming Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie- oops that's illegal! [AP via Washington Post]
The U.S. Mint sends a 'psst' that it's against the law to turn a coin into an advertising vehicle.

David Sexton to reignite Marvel's mystic fires with Mystic Arcana [interview on Silver Bullet Comics]
Also: On the Marvel Universe's sci-fi vibe, and Stan Lee's alliterations and tappings into the collective unconscious. Also: Neilalien is mentioned in the interview as a fantastic resource on Marvel Magic! Blush! Thanks! He sure hopes now that all the Dr. Strange info on his humble website is correct... ;)

Richard Case draws Dr. Strange [Rhomblog] [And: Clea]
The Clea illo is awesome- Neilalien loves the clarity of it, and the colors (close to the same fave color set used as the current scheme of this website).

The best evidence of comics' niche irrelevant status [The Hurting]
No risk for Marvel to offend the movie megabucks audience with hyper-sexualized MJ statues and setting a black man (Falcon) on fire on a comic book cover, because no one's there to see them. And- "If they can get away with doing that for a character with one of the top two or three most successful franchises in film history, well, obviously the standards for Misty Knight and Power Girl are going to be a wee bit lower."

Neilalien highly expects that (a) "the full power of the Sorcerer Supreme" will be portrayed in an anti-imaginative way, and (b) the Hulk will nonsensically survive "the full power of the Sorcerer Supreme". But we shall see.

Also solicited: Dr. Strange guest-stars in New X-Men #41.

Doctor Strange to work blue [Blu-ray.com]
Er, August's DVD will be available in Blu-ray format, not blue.

Jeers to Diamond. Despite the real challenges of current print publishing, and it's so pathetic that so few seem to want that mysterious Eden of comics, other-genre comics and comics magazines in that chasm between our Wizard and The Comics Journal attitudes (or TwoMorrows niches, as great but cannibalistic as those are), and our monopolist masters must know all about what sells in the market they've shaped, and they aren't a charity. But that black-and-white price point sounds like a tinny excuse. Ideally, Diamond would be more forward-thinking and market-embiggening to try to give exactly things like Comic Foundry a chance to play the comics game- new, noble, independent, accessible, lifestyling(!?), generalist. Granted, just about every Diamond rejection under the current system is probably going to outrage Neilalien, and he has the bias of knowing Leong and other contributors personally (and knowing they usually do good stuff). But Neilalien definitely places this instance on the wronged-outrage side of his line on the Diamond-cutoff continuum between "How dare they reject that work of art" and "The higher entry barrier has spared us a piece of crap". Support and good luck to Leong re: exploring other options- including setting up with an established publisher, adding color, getting a more-complete submission sent to Diamond, seeing the world wide wonderful web as the way to go again instead of dead-tree, etc.- and if one is also so motivated, please tell Diamond's Tim Huckelbery at htim@diamondcomics.com how you feel.

How Much Closet Space Has The Sanctum Sanctorum? (or, If Loving Doc Is Wong, I Don't Wanna Be Right)

Is it really so challenging a concept that Doctor Strange is straight? A straight introduction might indeed be getting more difficult over time- but it shouldn't be for an introducer who has actually read the 45-year comics record, and can communicate its 45-year context to others.

Undeniably, Doctor Strange has some lavender accessorization to rival even the best metrosexual. The flamboyant clothes. The Greenwich Village residence. The moustache (both David Niven or handlebar-pornstar varieties). The dramatic speech. The "personal slave boy". One doesn't have to live in an oh-so-sophisticated self-aware (with comics so cynically-self-aware) every-cop-buddy-movie-has-a-subtext age to see it (Doc's been asked outright in the comics record, "Are you gay?"). People will forever be making Seinfeldian-observation hay about Doc- and the rice queenslash fiction is out there, too. And hey, go for it, subversion is necessary, reinterpretation means longevity, he's just a fictional character. Doc is not Neilalien's to "own" or interpret correctly nor even to give "go for it" "permission" to other fans. Neilalien's usually laughing the hardest at the jokes- they should be delighting, not threatening, anyone's Doc fandom. Neilalien confronts the elements of Doc fandom who are offended. And one doesn't want to doth protest such things too much!

But can Neilalien protest this "Doc is gay" meme a bit- and confront other people who have apparently honestly interpreted that Doc is gay? Beacause the comics record is undeniable: Doctor Strange is a stud with the women. He makes any jacket a smoking jacket. Haven't you ever seen a pimp before? Hugh Hefner! Doc is the product of being an originally-Asian mystic in the hippie/Playboy 60's and 70's, with nary a wayward glance that his also-Asian doorman has been anything more than just a cigar in over 500 stories. Meanwhile, Doc's been barely-off-panel screwing (er, engaging in "tantric exercise" with) Clea, Morgana Blessing, Night Nurse, etc. (follow that Photon Torpedoes link for several images and Doc stories). These women aren't beards; Frasier and Niles Crane are straight and dandy, and so is Doc (he proceeded to have a relationship with the woman who asked him above if he was gay). The issue here is more context than subtext- it's not that Doc's screwing Wong, it's that the concept of cultured masculinity has changed on Doc over time. The much more supported sexual subtext/critique of Doctor Strange is that he's a fanman's (of the times, certainly) wet dream to be the luxurious ladies man hanging about the mansion in his pajamas, screwing the young dependent "I love you, Master" Clea (although she also has some strong female positive portrayals too; she fares better than many of the other refrigerator-bound). Many men today may balk at Doc as if watching a swishy Rat Packer singing in 50's Vegas- but Doctor Strange must seem terribly not-that-gay to most gay men and informed people.

Neilalien would be bummed if Marvel ever pulled the Rawhide Kid gimmick with Doc- but that would be fan entitlement and anti-"changing an established character with established traits" and anti-gimmick, not anti-gay (many previous gimmicks have bummed him out- new costumes, masks, new origins, regained youth, depowering, overpowering). Is it necessary to update the dated hot-dater- or does Doc just need a love interest, a better supporting cast than only Wong? Brian K. Vaughan seemed quite able to keep Doc as Vincent-Price-ish as Dr. Goldfoot And The Bikini Machine, comment on Wong as a "fetish", and have Doc hook up with Night Nurse, all while doing handstands (but did it sell?). And while of course nothing's "wrong" with it, it is inaccurate- so if the "Doc is homosexual" meme is going to emerge from comics humorist/blogger fare to appear in new contexts- like on major weblogs and newspapers with all the gravity of a political pundit's deduction- then Neilalien's going to be right here as a top Google search for "doctor strange gay", to try to provide that straight introduction and a counterweight of accurate information.

Mark Waid interview: It's death for a comic to be labeled as "fun" [Comic Book Resources]
The point isn't elaborated upon, so we don't know exactly what he means, probably a silly or humor or Dan Slott book. But is it not sad for comics that rapes and heroes killing heroes sells while "fun" becomes a bad word?

More Marvel-ous movies? [LA Times op-ed] [by Comics Reporter]
The contrast between A-list Spider-Man and C-list Ant-Man can be stark, but Marvel's got a shot at success, since a straightforward good movie/big-name stars/directors will sell tickets, not the small pre-loaded comic base.

Neilalien's Weekend Reading/Get it before it's gone: Great 152-page PDF collection of articles on comics from 01911 on, comics code stuff, many old Marvel items (Esquire, Eye, Rolling Stone) Neilalien's linked to individually over the years, Kirby, more [download link and contents list at Pmpknfacethanks!]

Re: Spider-Man 3: How can a movie filled with so much- three villains (they learned nothing from the Batman movie franchise?), one artificial connection between hero and villain (in this issue!: the tenth person who "really" killed Uncle Ben!), two love interests (three if you count the landlord's daughter), etc.)- drag on so slowly?Answer: Blame Avi Arad: "Please incorporate Venom" [interview with once-reluctant director Sam Raimi at Comic Book Resources]

Out today for Doc fans: New Avengers #30 [Diamond Comics Shipping List]
The one with the sword-skewered Doctor Strange cover. Plus a couple one-panel, alt-world and other appearances: Marvel Zombies: Dead Days, Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four, Hulk & Power Pack, the Sanctum is part of Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness.

I'm really excited about the discussion we had about ramifications for Dr. Strange coming out of 'World War Hulk.' There are enormous things going on with Strange that I think will be really fascinating.

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